ULI Minnesota News

MnDOT Technical Assistance Panel Featured in UrbanLand Magazine

Last June, ULI Minnesota convened a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) on behalf of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, focused on freeway lid opportunities along I-94 and at I-35W near Washington Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. This project looked at how MnDOT can develop a 21st century strategy for freeway construction and was our organization’s biggest and most complex TAP to date. The result was a concept called the Healthy Communities Initiativeaimed at restoring the physical, environmental, economic and social health of communities along the interstate.

Now, Archana Pyati has written a story for UrbanLand, the Urban Land Institute’s magazine, about the Healthy Communities Initiative and its continuing impact on how MnDOT is approaching the reconstruction of I-94. The panelists who participated in the TAP brought their knowledge and expertise as real estate and land use leaders into developing this strategy, and MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle describes their impact as follows:

“I wanted to hear from private-sector developers and planners who understand the importance of our transportation network, but come to the table with a larger frame of reference and visionary thinking of how our cities can work better for everyone.”